As part of its Todos Sembramos Café community initiative, Starbucks Mexico has donated 180,000 rust resistant and high-yielding coffee plants to farmers in Chiapas, Mexico in February.

The company has donated three variants of coffees known for better yields, higher cup quality, and improve resistance to rust. These are the Costa Rica 95, Guacamaya, and Marseillas.

Rust is a plant fungus that has wrecked havoc in coffee farms across Central America in recent years. Even seasoned farmers are unable to handle the pestilence that has affected yields and incurred significant economic losses.

“The rust was destroying our yields, cutting 40-50%,” said Martiano Moreno, a coffee farmer in Chiapas. “It was very difficult to watch. Our entire community relies on coffee. It’s who we are. It’s how we take care of our families; our children.”

Moreno has spent more than 30 years growing coffee to support a family of eight. The donated coffee plants from Starbucks Mexico would nevertheless secure the livelihood of coffee farmers and the future of coffee farming in Chiapas.

Starbucks has long been sourcing coffee from Chiapas. In fact, yields from Chiapas coffee farms account for 10 million cups of Starbucks coffee every year.

Nonetheless, Todos Sembramos Café is an ongoing initiative undertaken by Starbucks Mexico in collaboration with Agroindustries Unidas de Mexico, National Association of Coffee, and Alsea Foundation. Furthermore, this initiative forms part of the commitment of Starbucks to support coffee farmers around the world.

“Chiapas is a major producer of high-quality Arabica coffee,” said Federico Tejado, chief executive of Starbucks Mexico. “We have a strong tradition of building long-term relationships with key coffee producers in different parts of the world, with the aim of providing resources and training to improve the quality of their crops and maintain the stability of their lands.”